


Unbelievers

by Maaiams



Series: Summer of Lost Dreams [5]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Friendship, Multi, Overuse of Metaphors, Songfic, minecraft game mechanics, no beta we die like Herobrine, why am I writing a fic about minecraft youtubers help
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-16 07:49:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28827705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maaiams/pseuds/Maaiams
Summary: The Universe had only been chugging along for about a year before the supposed Antichrist decided to make his appearance. He never understood the fear, the paranoia. He had glowing white eyes, too. He could open chunks down past bedrock, he could do unnatural things like summon fire to his fists and disappear and reappear, but he was notevil.The world disagreed.Dream Team Herobrine AU fic based on my favorite song "Unbelievers" by Vampire Weekend
Relationships: Clay | Dream & Darryl Noveschosch, Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF)
Series: Summer of Lost Dreams [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1913497
Comments: 20
Kudos: 70





	1. Warmth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Never written a song fic before, wanted to try.

**Summer, 2010 :**

The Universe had only been chugging along for about a year before the supposed Antichrist decided to make his appearance.

His stage: a small, single-player world. Normally, his intrusion would have gone unnoticed, but this world was being streamed to thousands of others. They were the first to witness the world-shattering glitches, incomprehensible structures, and an entity whose eyes glowed white with power.

The news spread like wildfire.

* * *

**Summer, 2011 :**

He never understood the fear, the paranoia. He had glowing white eyes, too. He could open chunks down past bedrock, he could do unnatural things like summon fire to his fists and disappear and reappear, but he was not _evil_. He thought it was fun messing with other people, watching them from afar, and then building whatever he pleased when they turned away. He didn’t understand that stealing was bad, there had been no one around to teach him. All he knew was to follow in the footsteps of his elder.

He was a child, and he did not understand his power.

_Got a little soul_

* * *

**Summer, 2012 :**

The head Developers, the Players that tended to the source code, seemed to decide that the Antichrist’s tirade around the Universe was over. With the next Update, a single line of code rang out across all the worlds.

**-Removed Herobrine**

It removed the original, the forefather, but left the descendents. People like him, people who were simply spawned that way and didn’t know any better. Worst of all, it stripped them of their inborn power, leaving them to the mercy of the other Players. The tide had turned. Fear and anger won over.

Without his powers, they came after him with fire, iron, magic.

_The world is a cold, cold place to be_

* * *

**Summer, 2013 :**

He peeked through the trees, his long, blonde hair hiding the glow of his white eyes. There was a boy in the woods, diligently lighting redstone torches and arranging them around a small pile of golden nuggets he’d collected.

A Herobrine shrine.

He hadn’t been summoned, necessarily. It wasn’t actually possible to summon Players like him. He’d simply been drawn to it, by the fire. By the warmth.

_Want a little warmth_

His foot landed on a twig. A loud _crack!_ sounded through the trees.

The boy’s head snapped around, immediately locking onto his glowing eyes.

“H-ueeeegh!” he gasped, leaping backwards in shock, “Oh my god!”

_But who's gonna save a little warmth for me?_

He waited for him to scream and run away, or worse, attack him with a sword. Instead the boy just stood there, his mouth hanging wide open. He couldn’t have been much younger than him, looking to be around twelve or thirteen.

Finally, the kid collected himself enough to speak again. “You’re real!” he looked elated, “You’re Herobrine!”

_Hero_ -brine, he pronounced it, as if he were some kind of hero.

He shook his head. “I’m not Herobrine.” He pronounced it _Hera_ -brine, like the jealous queen of gods. The real Herobrine was nothing more than that, a jealous god. “I’m just descended from him.”

“You mean, like his son?”

He shook his head, “How many types of Players are there?”

“Two,” the boy scoffed as if it were common knowledge, “You’re either the spawn of Steve and the spawn of Alex. I’m spawn of Steve, I think.”

“Well, there was a third. His name was Herobrine.” he explained, “I'm from the line of Herobrine.”

“Whoa!” his mouth fell wide open again, “That’s _so_ cool!”

“You’re not scared of me?” he took a hesitant step forward.

“No!” he shook his head enthusiastically. He stuck out a hand, “My name’s Pandas, what’s yours?”

“My name’s- uh,” he didn’t have a name. He hadn’t needed one, not when all he did was creep around and watch Players from afar. “Uh…”

“That’s fine!” the kid— Pandas— snatched his hand anyway and shook it enthusiastically. “You don’t need a name to be my friend!”

* * *

Pandas was a curious kid. He clearly believed in the myth of Herobrine, even though the head Developers had done a very thorough job wiping his existence and that of most of his descendents off the face of the Universe. When Pandas obliviously asked how _he_ was still around, he only shivered and fought back memories of crashing through the undergrowth, a desperate burning in his lungs and the yawning gap of emptiness in his chest where his powers once resided.

He quickly changed the subject to lighter topics. He told his new friend about the true nature of his existence, how he’d spawned from the glitches left in the wake of his forefather, much like how the other Players spawned from the flowers and plant life that sprouted in the footsteps of their progenitors. It was nice to finally _talk_ to someone, rather than watching from afar either out of detached interest or fear.

In return for his stories, Pandas taught him the way Players thought of the Universe. He spoke of their belief in the blue and green entities that resided in the Void of the End, and introduced him to a work of literature said to be just as important as the source code itself: the End Poem.

Upon reading it himself, he understood why Pandas and the other Players considered it to be so. It spoke of everything being interconnected with each other, of being part of something greater, of having a purpose in the Universe. That he, as a spawn of Herobrine, was not so different than the other Players. It spoke of hope. And dreams.

_And the game was over and the player woke up from the dream. And the player began a new dream. And the player dreamed again, dreamed better._

He hoped to begin a new dream. One where he wasn’t hunted down for being someone different. He wanted to dream again, dream _better_.

“I’ve finally decided on a name.” he told Pandas that day.

“Oh?” he lowered the wooden sword they’d been sparring with, “Let’s hear it then!”

“Dream.” he said, smiling widely, “My name’s Dream.”

* * *

**Summer, 2014 :**

“C’mon Dream, you _have_ to come to McPvP with me,” his friend whined, dragging him along by a baggy sleeve of his hoodie, “No offense, but sparring with you over and over again has gotten boring. I know all your tricks now.”

Dream froze. He shrunk into his hoodie, trying to hide behind his long hair. “Is that a server?”

_We know the fire awaits unbelievers_

“Yeah it’s a server!” Pandas exclaimed, “A _pvp_ server! All my other friends are on there, you _gotta_ join!”

He shook his head, “Trust me Pandas, not everyone thinks Players like me are as cool as you do. They’ll ban me if they see my eyes.”

_All of the sinners the same_

“Then cover your eyes!” his friend exclaimed as if it were the simplest thing in the world. He dug around in the pockets of his panda onesie. “Here, I crafted this for you yesterday. It was supposed to be a plate, but now I have a better idea.”

He curiously held the plate to his face while Pandas tied it in place with a few scraps of leather.

“There!” he dusted his hands off dramatically, before suddenly coming to a realization, “Oh. Can you even see out of that?”

“I can see perfectly fine.” Despite being completely solid, the clay mask didn’t obstruct his vision at all. “I don’t think, uh, we physically have eyes. It just looks like we do when the energy we’re made up of seeps through our empty eye sockets.”

“Ooooo creepy!” Pandas shivered, wiggling his fingers. He studied his appearance, rubbing his chin in thought, “Maybe I can fix that a bit. C’mere.”

He felt his friend seize his face and scribble something on the white ceramic. 

“What is it?” he asked once Pandas stepped back to admire his handiwork, “It’s not a dick, is it?”

“Of course not! What’s wrong with you?” his friend seemed absolutely offended that Dream would think so poorly of him. Pandas crossed his arms. “No, I drew an XD face.” he said proudly, as if that were something better.

“ _WHAT_?” He fumbled the mask off, turning it around to see the large XD drawn in black marker. He suppressed a snort of laughter, “Why, Pandas, _why_?”

“You always look so happy when you laugh.” Pandas said, smiling brightly at him, “I wish you get to laugh more.”

Dream looked down at the smiling face in his hands, “It’s hard to laugh when people might try to perma-kill you like they killed Herobrine.”

“Don’t worry, Dream.” Pandas grabbed his hands, his mischievous eyes unusually serious, “If anyone tries to hurt you, I’ll fight them.”

_Girl, you and I will die unbelievers_

_Bound to the tracks of the train_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wish I could amend that second to last line to “Bro, you and I will die unbelievers”
> 
> The song's not over yet, we've got two more chapters to go!
> 
> Go give it a listen while you wait for the next update :)  
> [Unbelievers by Vampire Weekend](https://open.spotify.com/track/51DZ0wUocQ8sQfjnibXVcD?si=_N768A9qRT-NyjEot9YnkQ)


	2. Grace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An Admin accidentally sparks a staff revolt on McPvP.

**Summer, 2015 :**

Dream and Pandas slowly circled each other, covered from head to toe in mismatched armor. In their hands, swords and bowls of soup were held at the ready.

“It’s always just you and me, Dream.” Pandas drawled, shaking his head, “Just you and me.”

Dream remained silent, taking in his surroundings. Defeated Players formed a loose ring around them, many still nursing phantom pains from Respawn. In the sky floated the Admins and Mods, some visible and others remaining Vanished. People were flocking to spectate the final fight of the Survival Games, which had, once again, come down to just Dream and Pandas.

_If I'm born again_

In the months since joining McPvP, Dream had made a name for himself as one of the top pvpers of the server. Maybe it had been all the years spent running from Players who’d hunted him for his bloodline, or maybe his carefree days sparring with Pandas, but fighting was second nature to him. At first he’d been terrified someone would recognize him or his mask would fall off, but the other kids on the server were just as kind as Pandas. The few that disliked him were only sore about being beaten too many times.

The Admins paid him little attention. He was just another kid in a mass of excited kids armed with swords, and if he didn’t cause any trouble they didn’t notice him. One of them, however, caught his attention with his pale white eyes. He’d almost revealed himself right then and there, thinking perhaps that there was another Player like him. When he’d finally calmed down enough to ask, SaintsofGames only laughed and shook his head. “That old ghost? Nah, I’m just a demon.”

Once again, it was a reminder of the harsh nature of his existence. Despite how friendly everyone was to him, he knew it would all fall apart the instant they caught a glimpse of his eyes.

_I know that the world will disagree_

Pandas shot forward, swinging his sword in a wide arc. Dream dodged the heavy blow, instead jabbing his sword in quick succession at the holes in his armor. His friend cursed, retaliating with another two-handed swing. They danced around each other, Pandas with his heavy swings and Dream with his fleet-footed jabs. He ducked below Pandas, skidding under his legs and popping up behind him, ready to end the fight with a quick stab through the back of his neck. But to his surprise, his friend turned faster than usual, swinging his heavy sword around like a bat-

_CRACK!_

Pain exploded across his face and porcelain shards went flying into the air. He caught a glimpse of Pandas’s horrified face, and then the sea of expressions from the gathered crowd. Shock, surprise, fear, anger, _hatred_. Then a single word.

“ _Herobrine!_ ”

_Want a little grace_

At that instant, the Admins converged on him. 

_But who's gonna save a little grace for me?_

Hands grabbed his arms, prying the sword from his stunned grasp and forcing him to his knees. One of the Admins, angerier and rougher than the others, twisted his arms painfully behind his back and slammed him face-first into the ground. The sickening _crunch!_ of his nose breaking and the waves of harsh pain that came pouring in afterwards finally snapped him out of his trance.

Dream wasn’t on the pvp leaderboards for nothing. He immediately threw himself forward, ducking into a roll and twisting his arms out of their grasp. The Admins cried out in alarm at his sudden struggle, and he took their momentary surprise to knock their legs out from under them with a sweeping kick. 

True to his word, Pandas jumped in beside him, sword lashing out while Dream searched for his own. “Dream’s my friend!” he yelled, “Get away from him!”

Finally, Dream located his sword where it had fallen on the floor. He snatched it up, holding it in a guard position as his mind frantically searched for an escape route.

They were at a stalemate. Admins surrounded them on all sides, but they were hesitant, fearful of what Dream could possibly do. But there was nothing Dream _could_ do, his powers had died with the real Herobrine. It would only be a matter of time before someone realized that and got a Developer to type out a /remove command.

“Stop stop stop stop!” A familiar figure pushed his way through the circle of Admins, hands waving frantically in the air. Saints threw himself in front of Dream, mercifully shielding him from their judgemental eyes. “He’s just a kid, he didn’t do anything wrong!” 

While the Admins were distracted by his sudden intervention, Saints turned and gave him a small smile, “You okay?” he asked kindly.

Dream only wiped at his bleeding nose and nodded dumbly.

“Quick, find something to cover your eyes with.” the Admin whispered, “The less those judgemental pricks see, the better.”

“On it!” Pandas tore a long strip of white cloth from his onesie, not even caring that it damaged it beyond repair. He hurriedly helped Dream tie it over his eyes, and then pulled his hood up over his head for good measure.

Saints, meanwhile, began trying to talk his fellow Admins down. 

“Stop, please.” he said, hands outstretched, “Dream didn’t break any rules, he wasn’t even hacking.”

_We know the fire awaits unbelievers_

One of the head Admins only shook their head. “He poses a potential threat to the server as a spawn of Herobrine. We have no choice but to-”

“Ban him!” a Mod interrupted, “We don’t want his kind here!”

“I was leaving anyway!” Dream shouted back. He’d scarfed a bowl of mushroom stew to heal his nose and now he felt the fire burning inside him again.

“Yeah, if you’re gonna ban him, ban me too!” Pandas yelled in solidarity. “Cause if you’re gonna ban Dream for doing nothing wrong, might as well take me as well!”

_All of the sinners the same_

“Nonononono! Please don't!” Saints grabbed the two of them and pushed them behind him, “Let me handle this.” he stepped forward, hands held out beseechingly, “Please, does no one else see a problem with this? No one at all? Is everyone okay with judging people based on their bloodline? Just because I’m descended from Steve, does that mean all I like to do is mine all day? No! We’re all each our own person with our own personalities and beliefs. We just happen to be molded after the form of someone else.”

Murmurs broke out amongst the crowd of Players and Admins. A few Admins began shifting uneasily, clearly convinced by Saints’s argument. There was a slight disturbance in the crowd and a small group of kids pushed their way to the front. Leading them was a young, blonde-haired boy.

“Dream’s my friend, I’ve played with him a lot and he’s pretty cool.” he declared.

The girl next to him stepped forward. “He never told us he was descended from Herobrine but he didn’t need to. He’s still our friend no matter what.” she said as another boy nodded silently along.

“Enough of this!” one of the Admins shoved their way to the front, “He’s poisoning the minds of our children! He’s a menace! A demon!”

“A demon?” Saints asked. His tone was light but his pale eyes narrowed dangerously. “What’s wrong with being a demon?”

The Admins were quick to catch themselves, “We didn’t mean it like _that_.”

“Yes, you did.” he said, “If I’m a demon and you have no problem with me, then what’s your problem with the kid?”

“It’s- it’s different, Saints.” another Admin stepped forward, “You may be a demon, but at the end of the day, you’re still the spawn Steve and Alex. That kid’s spawned from H- Hero-” they sputtered, “-you know who!”

“Herobrine.” Saints said, “Say his name. He was once a Player like us. He also did bad things, just like we ourselves are capable of doing.”

“But Herobrine was evil!”

“Is anyone really inherently good or bad?” Saints mused, posing the question to the crowd, “If us Players were inherently good, then would we have hurt a kid for something out of their control?”

The crowd was silent.

“I see how it is.” Saints put his hands on his hips. “You’re all acting off of old prejudices that are completely wrong. Dream is a Player like the rest of us, and so am I. If this server won’t accept people for who they are, then _I’m_ leaving as well.”

“Saints,” one of the Admins hesitantly began, “You’re one of our most popular Admins- you can’t just leave over something as small as this.”

“Yes, I _can_.” the demon shot back, “What you said just proves it to me. This is no small matter.” He drew his hands through the air, creating an exit portal right where they stood. A final testament to the power he would soon no longer hold on McPvP. “Well, it was fun guys, but we’ll just be going now.”

No one moved to stop them. Like a protective older brother, Saints took Dream’s hand in one and Pandas’s in the other, and gently led them through. The group of kids that had stood up for Dream followed.

Then silently, Admins began splitting off from the crowd, trailing after the one from their ranks who had spoken the truth.

_Girl, you and I will die unbelievers_

_Bound to the tracks of the train_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah yes, McPvP. Those were the days. Used to play Capture the Flag and learned to avoid those kids with “pvp” in their username. They’d usually stick to the more pvp-intensive games but when I’d occasionally run into them on CTF it was TERRIFYING. I’d just be minding my own business trying to click as fast as possible without breaking my clunky laptop trackpad, and then some kid would fly out of nowhere, SLAUGHTER everyone guarding the flag, and then run off before anyone could even land a hit on them. Wasn’t surprised to learn that Dream’s old username was DreamOnPVP and Sapnap’s was PandasCanPVP.


End file.
